Conduct A Better Interview – Uncomfortable Questions

Over at the Wall Street Journal, blogger Alina Dizik has written an article on dealing with uncomfortable interview questions. It seems many candidates are surprised by the types of questions and situations that are presented to them during interviews. While candidates might not perceive this a beneficial, it is a good thing for both the interviewer and the candidate.

One of the biggest problems with interviews is that everyone knows what to expect and how they should answer the standard questions. How many times have you asked the question “What is your greatest fault?” only to get a pat answer like “I work too hard.” or “I care too much.”? When candidates prepare for an interview they put on a nice suit and a nice persona to match. This works great for the candidate during the interview, but it makes the interviewer’s job much more difficult.

By the time a candidate comes in for an interview, their skills and experience should already have been evaluated, so really what we are looking for is whether or not they will fit well in our company culture, or in the team they would be working with. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to tell what the candidate is really like underneath that polished alter-ego.

To gain better insight into a candidate we use a two part solution. First we give each candidate an in depth behavioral assessment before they come in for an interview. Our assessment Hire-Intelligence creates a customized behavioral interview guide for each candidate based on their answers. Next we use the interview guide Since the interview guide is created specifically to probe the candidate in targeted areas the questions will definitely take the by surprise. This helps to uncover the real candidate.